Run Dates

Upcoming Scheduled Events

Running Time

Show Description

Broadway audiences are in for some “Hot Stuff”

This vibrant, world-premiere musical charts the incomparable life of Donna Summer

She was a girl from Boston with a voice from heaven, who shot through the stars from gospel choir to dance floor diva. But what the world didn’t know was how Donna Summer risked it all to break through barriers, becoming the icon of an era, and the supreme queen for every diva who followed.

With a score featuring more than 20 of Summer’s classic hits including “Love to Love You, Baby;” “Bad Girls” and “Hot Stuff,” this electric experience is a moving tribute to the voice of a generation.

Reviews (3)

But for fans of the artists that these shows celebrate, those ingredients are what matter. Presentation is a plus, but it’s not the draw. They’ve come for the music — and perhaps theatergoers like me have our own cynicism to reckon with in the face of a fan’s earnest euphoria. Whatever your personal taste, being surrounded by genuine excitement — by middle-aged women wearing sequined blouses actually standing up in a Broadway theater and joyfully shaking their booties during multiple slinky disco numbers — does a body good. That’s what’s currently happening in the Lunt-Fontanne, and thanks to the swift, smart construction of Summer, which neither overburdens its material nor overstays its welcome, it’s a pretty damn good time.

Of course, that's where she truly was Queen, and the tunes that shot her to stardom in the '70s — "Last Dance," "Bad Girls," "Hot Stuff," among so many others — are thrillingly performed by a phenomenal trio of actresses. Depicting three stages of Summer's life, Storm Lever plays Duckling Donna, Ariana DeBose is Disco Donna, and LaChanze is Diva Donna. The numbers are loosely arranged, with the women singing separately and together throughout. Fans in the audience, encouraged to sing and dance along, are clearly feeling the love.

And never underestimate the power of seeing a woman take the lead in a spinning and dipping disco partner dance (Sergio Trujillo brings the '70s and '80s to life with some of the most fun ensemble dancing of the season). Of course, the woman typically being spun and dipped is Disco Donna DeBose, who is slowly proving herself to be one of the truest triple threats working on Broadway. As someone who can sing like a pop star and command a scene like a leading lady, all while besting the chorus dancers, she's a unicorn due for some recognition.